Automatic discharge trays

ABSTRACT

A conveyor system consisting of a plurality of material carrying sheaths or containers pivotally supported about a horizontal axis on a support frame carried by two chains operatively connected to a power source. The material carrying sheaths are open at the bottom and are caused to pivot outwardly away from the support frame by a cam carried by the sheath which engages an arrester actuated by a station selecting pushbutton on the frame, whereby the load is discharged from the open bottom of the sheath as it is pivoted away from the support frame.

United States Patent 1 1 Jaftre 1451 Aug. 7, 1973 [54] AUTOMATIC DISCHARGE TRAYS FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [76] Invent: Felicia Jame Z0118 308,692 2/1969 Sweden 198/38 lndustrielle de Keryado, Lorient, France Pr mary Exam ner-Richard E. Aegerter [22] Filed: July 2, 1971 Attorney-Richard C. Sughrue, Robert J. Seas, Jr. 211 Appl. No.: 159,283 et [57] ABSTRACT [30] Forelgn Application Priority Data A conveyor system consisting of a plurality of material July 3, i970 France 7024904 carrying sheaths or containers pivotaliy suppgrted about a horizontal axis on a support frame carried by U-S. Cltwo chains operatively connected to a power s urcg [5 Int. Cl- The material carrying sheaths are; open at the b fl m of Search and are caused in pivot outwardly away from [he upl98/38, 141, 144. 153 port frame by a cam carried by the sheath which ongages an arrester actuated by a station selecting push- References Cited button on the frame, whereby the load is discharged UNITED STATES PATENTS from the open bottom of the sheath as it is pivoted 3,444,985 5/1969 Buckle 198/38 away from the PP frame- 3,3l8,435 5/1967 Scott 198/38 7 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTED AUG 7 I975 SHEET 1 BF 5 FIG/1 PATENIED AUG- 7 ms 3, 7 50, 85 Q SHEET 2 [IF 5 FIG. 2

PATENTEB AUG H975 SHEET 0F 5 FIG.6.

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PATENTEU RUE 71975 SHEET 5 OF 5 AUTOMATIC DISCHARGE TRAYS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention concerns automatically discharging continuous elevators of the noria type, commonly referred to as tray elevators or pater nosters, and often used for the vertical distribution of mail in office buildings.

2. Description of the Prior Art In the known devices of this type the mail is first put into a special container bearing a coded address. The container is then placed on the elevator, to be ejected by means of an auxiliary energy source at the desired floor, where generally it is stacked up while waiting to be picked up by the addressee.

Every dispatch, however, small it may be, requires that a separate container be available and put into service.

When the elevator traffic reaches a certain intensity, which is the normal justification for this kind of device, the floor space taken up by the elevator installation tends to increase considerably, and the operating complexity disproportionate to the service rendered.

There likewise presently exist conveyor systems which permit loads to be taken on in and automatically discharged at given stations; however, these systems have the disadvantage of requiring complete overturning of the selected conveyer device when it discharges, which of necessity entails the existence of a complex mechanism, requiring the use of retum-springs as well as locking devices.

There exist other systems in which loads are retained in inclined boxes resting on a rigid bottom. These boxes rest directly on a belt which normallyfits exactly the surface of the rigid bottom. At the time of discharge the belt has only to be stretched to separate from the surface of the rigid bottom, thus pushing the box away. The latter then slides on the inclined plane constituted by the belt. A system of this sort avoids the previous overturning, but necessitates one box per station every time a load is to be conveyed to a distant point and springs to stretch the belt. In the event that the belt is replaced by a rigid surface operated by an arrester, the bottom of the box rests on a surface effaced by a spring mechanism, so that in all cases former systems resort to machinery which is either complex and susceptible to malfunction or requires a new box for each load handled.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The general object of the invention is to permit construction of an elevator of this kind requiring considerably reduced floor space for the amount of service rendered.

A particular object of the invention is to make possible the conveyance of loads, wrapped or unwrapped, without the use of a special contairienwhile at the same time using the motive power of the elevator to eject the loads without the aid of an auxiliary energy source.

A characteristic of the invention, therefore, is to make possible the accumulation of stackable loads at the outlet in a reduced volume. v

The principal object of the present invention is to present a conveyer system comprising: a drive mechanism supporting load-conveying devices passing in front of a series of stations; discharge devicesjand selection devices involving at least the actuation of an arrester which starts the discharge of the conveyers at the selected station. The system is characterized by the fact that the said conveyor devices are composed to a support suspended from the said drive mechanism in such a way that the said support remains constantly in a vertical position, even during the discharge operation, and of a guide which is mobile in relation to the principal support and vertically suspended, the guide including a cam extending to the outside of the said support for the purpose of working in conjunction with the selection device of the stationwhere discharge is to take place. The said support includes a horizontal floor, which makes possible horizontal removal of the load from the said support when the guide inclines under the action exerted by the arrester of the selection device on the cam of the mobile guide.

The principal concern of this system is not only to avoid the overturning operation, since the suspended mobile guide has only to incline for the conveyed loads to be ejected, but also to avoid the use of any returnspring mechanism, since the guide, being suspended, returns to its equilibrium position as soon as the cam, having assisted in its tipping, separates from the arrester of the selected station with which it cooperates.

Furthermore, use of a special box for every loadconveying operation is avoided.

Moreover, unlike previous systems, in which the load was tipped either by overturning or simply by sliding a special box down an inclined plane, the loads remain constantly on a horizontal support and are discharged from this support by a horizontal sliding motion under the sweeping effect of the mobile guide.

In this manner a compact system is achieved, having no mechanism liable to get out of order, and in particular, no springs or locking devices, in which loads remain constantly on a horizontal surface before being swept away by a guide suspended from a support which remains vertical, whatever the route traveled in order to serve charging and discharging stations.

f Various embodiments of the invention are described below by way of illustration and not of limitation, with reference to the annexed drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a general schematic view of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view of a tray in perspective;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are diagrams of the system permitting positioning of the arrester in the trajectory of the cam of the sheath;

FIGS- 5 and 6 present a variation of the sheathrotating mechanism;

FIGS. 7 and 8 present a tray with a sheath which is supplied with a jointed bottom; and

FIG. 9-is a diagram of a further modification of a tray.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The elevator illustrated schematically in FIG. 1 comprises, in essence, two endless chains 1, positioned parallel to each other in spaced-apart relationship and driven by two toothed wheels for carrying from one location to another the trays intended for the conveyance of loads. The up driving belt and the down" driving belt move in a vertical shaft provided with an access opening on every floor served.

The tray shown in FIG. 2 is made of a frame 3, driven in translatory motion and integral with chains 1, on which frame sheath 6 of rectangular section is suspended by two pivots 4 and 5.

The load is placed into the discharge sheath 6 as the tray passes in front of the service opening. The contents rest on the notched or ribbed floor 7 of the tray.

The destination of the load is impressed on the tray by depressing pushbutton 8, thereby causing the tray to disengage at the appropriate floor by activating a system serving to position arrester 10 in the trajectory of cam 11, which is integral with the sheath.

This system, shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, is so constructed that the slight angular play of finger 12 around pivot axis 21 caused by engagement with pushbutton 8 brings about, through the linkage of rod 13, which is articulated at two points 14 and 15, rotation of arm 16 around pivot axis 17 and the positioning of arrester 10 for engagement with cam 11. Discharge is effected when arrester 10 and cam 11 are in contact, thereby causing partial rotation of sheath 6 around the two pivots 4 and 5, as shown in FIG. 4.

The load falls out of the open bottom of the frame and is dumped in a receptacle prepared for this purpose. When cam 11 has separated from arrester 10, the sheath resumes its original position and the tray is usable again.

Another implementation of the invention, presented in FIGS. and 6, envisages the assignment of a definite number of trays to take care of each floor serviced.

Fixed arrester 22 occupies a different transverse position at each level. Assignment of a tray to a specific floor consists in making the transverse position of cam 23 coincide with the position of fixed arrester 22.

When the tray reaches the level to which it is assigned, cam 23 comes into contact with fixed arrester 22 and causes rotation of the sheath.

According to another implementation of the invention as presented in FIGS. 7 and 8, sheath 6 can be provided on its underside with a pivoted flat bottom 18, which rests on floor 24 of the tray and retracts at the time of discharge.

According to another embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 9, the suspended sheath is limited to a movable shutter 19, pivoted at 4 and 5, the frame being identical to that of the preceding description. The load rests on the fixed bottom 24 of the frame. Rotation is effected as previously, with the exception that the load is pushed out of the apparatus by shutter 19 into a hopper or on a vertical or inclined, mechanized or unmechanized ramp.

The above-described embodiments of the present invention and the enumerated examples of applications are, of course, not restrictive and for a specialist in materials handling other modifications are easily conceivable without going beyond the scope of the present invention.

The trays constituting the subject of the present invention can be adapted to an elevator and used in all cases involving the conveyance and distribution of documents in bulk or packaged, individually or in groups, or for miscellaneous objects of dimensions within their clearance. It goes without saying that the trajectory of the trays can be inclined or horizontal, the cams and arresters always being ready to be on the same path.

What is claimed is:

1. A conveyor system comprising drive means, driven means operatively connected to said drive means, tray means connected to said driven means for passing in front of a series of stations, said tray means comprising a pair of vertically disposed supports having a horizontally disposed floor portion therebetween and suspended from said driven means, discharge means freely pivoted on said support and normally disposed perpendicular to said floor portions, cam means on said discharge means and arrester means disposed at each station for selective engagement with said cam means whereby engagement of said cam means on a discharge means with an arrester means at a selected station will pivot said discharge means relative to said supports to transfer a load laterally relative to said floor portion.

2. A conveyor system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said discharge means is comprised of a four sided sheath open at the top and bottom with the open bottom being substantially coextensive with said floor portion and further comprising two horizontal pivots for pivotally connecting said sheath to said supports.

3. A conveyor system as set forth in claim 2 wherein said floor is provided with a plurality of ribs running perpendicular to the axis of said pivot and wherein the bottom edge of one side of said sheath is provided with notches complementary to said ribs and the bottom edge of the opposite side of said sheath abuts against the lateral extremeties of said ribs.

4. A conveyor system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said discharge means is comprised of a single plate and pivot means for totally connecting said plates to said supports whereby said plate will be disposed perpendicular to said floor around the edge thereof adjacent said arrester means.

5. A conveyor system as set forth in claim 1 wherein the horizontal position of said cam means and said arrester means between said supports is a function of the station at which discharge is to be effected.

6. A conveyor system as set forth in claim 1 wherein the position of said cam means between said supports is fixed and means are provided for selectively actuating said arrester means into and out of position relative to said cam means.

7. A conveyor system as set forth in claim 1 further comprising a plurality of push bottoms disposed in a horizontal plane in said tray beneath the floor thereof, each of said pushbuttons being movable between a first inoperable position and a second operable position depressed in the direction of the arrester means, said arrester means at each station having a single control finger aligned with a respective one of said pushbuttons, a pivoted cam engaging element and connecting means for connecting said cam engaging element and said finger whereby upon engagement of said finger by its respective pushbutton in the depressed operable position as said tray reaches a station said finger will move said cam engaging means through said connecting means to position said cam engaging means in the path of said cam means to pivot said discharge means out of register with the floor of said tray means.

I i i i l 

1. A conveyor system comprising drive means, driven means operatively connected to said drive means, tray means connected to said driven means for passing in front of a series of stations, said tray means comprising a pair of vertically disposed supports having a horizontally disposed floor portion therebetween and suspended from said driven means, discharge means freely pivoted on said support and normally disposed perpendicular to said floor portions, cam means on said discharge means and arrester means disposed at each station for selective engagement with said cam means whereby engagement of said cam means on a discharge means with an arrester means at a selected station will pivot said discharge means relative to said supports to transfer a load laterally relative to said floor portion.
 2. A conveyor system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said discharge means is comprised of a four sided sheath open at the top and bottom with the open bottom being substantially coextensive with said floor portion and further comprising two horizontal pivots for pivotally connecting said sheath to said supports.
 3. A conveyor system as set forth in claim 2 wherein said floor is provided with a plurality of rIbs running perpendicular to the axis of said pivot and wherein the bottom edge of one side of said sheath is provided with notches complementary to said ribs and the bottom edge of the opposite side of said sheath abuts against the lateral extremeties of said ribs.
 4. A conveyor system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said discharge means is comprised of a single plate and pivot means for totally connecting said plates to said supports whereby said plate will be disposed perpendicular to said floor around the edge thereof adjacent said arrester means.
 5. A conveyor system as set forth in claim 1 wherein the horizontal position of said cam means and said arrester means between said supports is a function of the station at which discharge is to be effected.
 6. A conveyor system as set forth in claim 1 wherein the position of said cam means between said supports is fixed and means are provided for selectively actuating said arrester means into and out of position relative to said cam means.
 7. A conveyor system as set forth in claim 1 further comprising a plurality of push bottoms disposed in a horizontal plane in said tray beneath the floor thereof, each of said pushbuttons being movable between a first inoperable position and a second operable position depressed in the direction of the arrester means, said arrester means at each station having a single control finger aligned with a respective one of said pushbuttons, a pivoted cam engaging element and connecting means for connecting said cam engaging element and said finger whereby upon engagement of said finger by its respective pushbutton in the depressed operable position as said tray reaches a station said finger will move said cam engaging means through said connecting means to position said cam engaging means in the path of said cam means to pivot said discharge means out of register with the floor of said tray means. 